Tag: #veganfood

Meat Free Mondays…
Stylemesisteradmin
July 29, 2019

Easy Lobia Masala

As part of my Meat Free Mondays I am featuring Curries. Why? Because I love cooking Curries.

One of my favourite lentils/daals is the classic Black Eye Pea aka Lobia. I love the earthiness of it. It’s a robust bean and is versatile. You can mash it up for burgers and nuggets, cook it in a curry or add it to salads.

I usually pre-boil the peas and freeze them. I find this the most economical way. However if you don’t have freezer space yet have a Slow Cooker you can utilise that and pre-cook the peas the night before. It’s not much work but it keeps costs low.

This is a rather spicy dish. Feel free to adjust the spices to your own taste buds.

I do serve my daals/pulses with plain boiled rice or naans. You can select what works for you.

To serve four you will need:

225 grams pre-cooked Lobia aka black eye peas (or raw lentils, washed and soaked in BOILING water for 1 hour prior to cooking).

ALTERNATIVE: 2 x 400 grams (Approx) cooked Black eye peas. Rinse and drained. If you take this option you need to reduce the cooking time by a few minutes (so around 5 minutes) rather than a full 10 minutes. This is to stop turning it to mush.

1 heaped TBSP garlic paste (or 4 cloves of fresh garlic; crushed)

4 TBSP pre-fried onions soaked in water and drained (or 1 medium onion; peeled and finely sliced)

2 TBSP oil

3 green chilies-sliced in half

150 ML of passata (or half a tin of tomatoes; chopped)

750 ML (0.75 litre) water

1 small piece of ginger-sliced (you could use half a TSP of ginger powder if you wish. I generally fish out the ginger before serving)

4 TBSP fresh coriander (including stalks) finely chopped

Cooking salt-to your taste

1 heap TSP turmeric

1 TSP amchoor aka mango powder. If you can’t find any you can use the juice of two limes. Amchoor is a souring agent.

Please note: the measurements given are in line with what I like. Please feel free to adjust according to your own needs. I avoid telling people how much salt to add as it really is down to your own daily consumption and needs.

1) Pre-heat the oil in a large pan on a medium heat. Add the onions and fry for 30 seconds. If the onions stick stir and add a little water if needed (I TBSP at a time). If you are using fresh onions fry until lightly golden.

2) Add the garlic and ginger. Fry for 1 minutes stirring well.

3) Now add the salt, turmeric and chili powder. Stir well. Fry for around 1 minute to cook the spices through. Add a TBSP of water is the mixture sticks.

4) Add the green chilies and stir in. Fry for 1 minute.

5) Add the passata. Stir well for around 5 minutes. This step creates the masala for the Lobia.

6) Add the lobia and coriander and stir to cover the lentils in the sauce. It will look dry but don’t worry. Now add the water and bring to the boil.

7) Reduce the heat and simmer until the lentils are tender. Now if you used pre-cooked lentils it takes around 15 minutes for this to happen. But it can take longer or less time depending on your lentils and how much you cooked them in the first place.
If you are using non-pre cooked lentils I find it takes over 3.5 hours to become tender and I don’t have the patience for this! What you can do is if you have a Slow Cooker you could transfer the daal at this point to the cooker and let it simmer away. I’ve done this a few times and find it works well. But ask me to keep an eye on lentils for hours on a stove and I will literally cry.

Remove the ginger pieces (if you used slices).

8) Garnish as you wish or serve as is. Lobia Masala is ready to eat.

Penne Arrabiata with Aubergines.
Alliyah Dawud
June 24, 2019

I love pasta…but when I do have it I try to make it a tad bit healthier. One of my favourite ways is by adding a vegetable to the sauce.

One of my favourite old skool pasta sauce is the simple but awesome Arrabiata which literally translated means angry. As someone who likes heat I love the spiciness of this.

This sauce in it’s simple classic form is really easy to knock up and there’s a high chance you’ve got everything at home. My aubergine version is a bit more work.

You can leave out the aubergines if you wish. I personally love it. If you wish to leave it out just skip the steps for the aubergine prep.

Ingredients (to serve 4):

  • 300 grams penne pasta (cooked till Al dente) drained. Keep about 6 TBSP of pasta water just in case (I’ll explain later)
  • 2 TBSP olive oil
  • 5 cloves of garlic-minced
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • Chili flakes-to your taste
  • Salt-to your taste
  • 1 X 350 ml carton passata (you can use one with garlic or herbs)
  • 200 ml water or vegetable stock
  • For the aubergines:
  • 1 whole aubergine sliced into slices (either way is fine). Sliced into a pounds (£) thickness.
  • Spray oil
  • Garlic Granules
  • To bake the aubergines:
  • Baking tray
  • Greaseproof paper
  • Spray oil (1 cal works)
  • To serve:
  • Italian style Hard cheese of your choice
  • Fresh basil (if you wish)

1) Pre-heat the oven to 170 (160 on fan assisted ovens). Place the aubergines on the tray and spray with oil. Sprinkle on garlic granules and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn over. Spray again and sprinkle on more garlic if you wish. Now spray on more oil. Place bake in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Once the aubergine is done set aside.
2) To make the actual sauce: heat the oil in a large pan on a medium heat. Add the garlic and fry until garlic is lightly brown. This won’t take long so don’t leave the pan. Burnt garlic is horrible.
3) Add the basil, salt, chili and stir well. Add the passata and water. Bring to the boil. Then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes.
4) Now add the aubergine if using. Stir well and simmer for another 4-5 minutes. If the mixture becomes too dry add 4 tablespoons of water. You don’t want a dry sauce as you want it to cling to the pasta.
5) Add the drained pasta to the sauce (I like doing it this way) and if the sauce is too dry add the pasta water you saved earlier to it. This should restore the sauce.
6) Divide the pasta into 4 pasta sauces and shave over the cheese and add the basil if using.
7) Stuff mouth and enjoy (I’m joking about the stuffing bit btw).

I find the sauce can be frozen WITHOUT aubergines. However it’s just a quick sauce you may not want to have it in your freezer taking up space.

PS: Tesco have recently started stocking chargrilled sliced Aubergine. This still needs to be cooked but it makes the recipe even more easier to knock up as you don’t need to worry about having a fresh Aubergine in the Fridge. Plus they taste nice (no, Tesco did not pay me to say that).

Vegetarian Taco Meat Burritos
Stylemesisteradmin
June 10, 2019

Over the past two years I’ve grown to love the idea of meat free meal days. Once upon a time I dreaded the idea of finding a vegetable based recipe that wasn’t coated in fat and spices to cover the fact there’s no meat in it.

Nowadays for me it’s no longer a challenge. Possibly because I have found that I simply need to adapt the meat element to be replaced by a non meat product.

There’s plenty of non-meat alternatives available in the UK. I personally love Morrisons own brand Vegetarian Mince from their Taste range for things like Spaghetti Bolognese (400 grams for £1.50 and no they have not paid me to compliment them).

Most Superstores have their own ranges however some famous brands include Quorn and Lindy McCartney. Considering how many more mouths we will need to be feeding in the future and how much farm land we actually have I’ve got to be honest with you; I feel we should all be looking into alternative proteins.

Anyhow….back to the recipe.

I love Burritos! I do. I reallllly do. However I find good ones hard to come by. So I literally created my own at home.

These Burritos contain:

My awesome vegetarian taco meat (recipe here)

My Tex Mex Inspired Burrito Rice (recipe here)

Plus a flurry of other ingredients that pack a punch.

To make 4 Burritos you will need:

  • 1 lot of Vegetarian Taco Meat (heated)
  • 1 lot of Burrito Rice (heated)
  • 4 large Tortilla Wraps (I use corn ones)
  • 1 large red onion diced finely
  • 80 grams of Sweetcorn (cooked)
  • 50 grams Cheddar Cheese (grated)
  • 4 TBSP Salsa
  • 4 TBSP Sliced Jalapeno
  • 1 large tomato deseeded and finely chopped
  • Optional :Hot Sauce

To serve:
Skewers/tooth picks (optional but I find they come in useful to keep things in place)
Burger wraps (I used colourful ones but that’s all I have in)
Tortilla chips
Salsa
Sour cream

The HOW TO:

1)Take a Tortilla Wrapper and gently warm it in the Microwave (10 seconds) or in a dry frying pan. Turn over to avoid it burning. Remove from the pan and place on a chopping board or large plate.

2) Now place the taco meat on the wrap. Spread it in a ‘line’ vertically. We need to pile up the ingredients in a ‘line’ as we need to wrap these badboys up as tight as possible.

3) Now add some rice.

4) Add the Jalepenos, Sweetcorn, Onions, Tomatoes and Cheese.

5) Drizzle on the Salsa and Hot Sauce (if using).

6) Now is the hard bit. It may take some practice but its worth it. Trust me. Fold the horizontal sides in. Now gently start rolling the Burrito trying to tuck everything in. Don’t speed this step up because things will fall to pieces; literally.

7) Once it’s all rolled up take the burger wrapper (or greaseproof paper if using) and wrap it tightly around the Burrito. Add a tooth pick if you feel it needs one. Just let people know there’s one there so they don’t hurt themselves on it.

8) Your Burrito is ready to serve. I serve mine with extra Salsa, Tortilla Chips and Sour Cream.

Super Green Alu Tikkis
Stylemesisteradmin
May 11, 2019

Super Green Alu Tikkis…..because green is glory.

Green vegetables in a Tikki you say? Really? Indeed! My girls love these so much we use the mixture to create Burgers too.

Getting some children to eat anything green and ‘healthy’ looking can be tiresome. This recipe takes the classic Alu Tikki (potato Tikki) and rammed it with good stuff (being spinach and peas). These Tikkis taste like Spring…so enjoy.

To make enough to serve 4 people you will need:

  • Ingredients
  • 80 grams peas or petite pois cooked, drained and cooled
  • 40 grams baby spinach cooked (I cook it in the microwave as it takes minutes. I place the spinach in a microwaveble dish, add a couple of tablespoons of water and cover with microwavable cling film. I poke a few holes in the film to let steam escape. Takes a few minutes. Job done).
  • 200-250 grams potatoes-boiled (that’s two medium potatoes if you are not fussed my weights). Mashed OR riced.
  • 2 spring onions (green onions) washed and thinly sliced.
  • Salt-to taste
  • 1 & 1/2 TBSP cornflour
  • 1 heaped TBSP coriander leaves chopped finely
  • 1 TSP cumin seed powder
  • 1 TSP coriander seed powder
  • 1/2 TSP chili powder
  • 1 heaped TSP garlic granules
  • 1 TSP amchoor (green mango powder-I add this to give a tang. If you can’t find this ingredient don’t panic and just leave it out and squeeze over some lime before serving the tikkis).

Oil-to shallow fry

1) Whiz together the peas and spinach to create a rough mixture. You can roughly chop the mixture by hand if you haven’t got a processor.

2) Place the mashed potato in a bowl and add all the tikki ingredients. Using your hands get in there and combine the ingredients (don’t forget to wash your hands properly after as there is chili in the mixture).

3) Using wet hands shape your tikkis. You can make medium ones using a walnut size amount of mixture. Or if you want to serve these as canapes/starters make them smaller.

4) In a large pan heat the oil on a medium heat. Fry the tikkis on a medium heat until lightly golden brown. Do not keep turning the tikkis over as this will increase the chances of breaking them.

5) Once brown on both sides drain off on kitchen paper (the tikkis should take about 5 minutes maximum on each side).

6) Serve with chutneys and sauces of your choice.

NOTES: the corn flour is added to help keep the tikkis together. If you cannot get your hands on it replace with Basan (gram flour).

This mixture makes great vegetarian burgers.

These Tikkis do not freeze well. This in my humble foodie opinion is down the the spinach but still. These badboys make awesome burgers (including veggie dirty burgers…recipe coming soon).

My mixed Pakoras
Alliyah Dawud
May 7, 2019

My Awesome Pakoras!

Who doesn’t love some Pakoras with a cup of Tea (actually Chai) right?

Here are my favourite Pakoras using my Awesome Pakora mix (check out yesterdays post for the recipe). Note that I have added a few tweaks that I think enhance the recipe.

This post is more of a ‘tutorial’ or suggestion piece (just in case you are looking for exact ingredients).

I love my Pakoras with my quick and easy Masala Chai.

For some extra flavour you can sprinkle Chaat Masala over the cooked Pakoras.

Don’t forget the Chutneys and dipping sauces.

To make the mixed Pakoras here’s what you will need:

Cauliflower Pakoras
I used 250 grams of frozen cauliflower boiled until cooked but not OVER cooked.

I then used my Pakora Mix and add 1 TSP of ground ginger, and 1 tsp of dried fenugreek leaves to the mix.

Make the Pakora dipping mix and dip in the cauliflower and deep fry until golden brown.

Aubergine Pakoras

You’ll need one firm Aubergine sliced thinly.

Make up the Pakora dipping mix, dip and deep fry until golden brown.

Egg Pakoras

Now don’t write off the idea of the humble egg when it comes to Pakoras.

Hard boil a couple of eggs, cool and peel. Cut in half and dip into the Pakora dipping mix. Deep fry gently and drain well.

Pre-boiled Potato Pakoras

One of my childhood favourites is the humble yet gracious Alu Pakora.

To make these babies boil 2 whole medium potatoes with their skin on. Once boiled and cooled completely peel off the skin and cut the potatoes into rounds (about the thickness of a pound).

Make the Pakora dipping mix and add 1 TSP coriander leaves finely chopped, dip in the potatoes and deep fry until golden brown.

Sprinkle with some chaat masala. Enjoy.

How do you take your Pakoras? Drop your comments and feedback below.